Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Nanaimo today for the latest stop on his cross-country town hall tour.

Trudeau may face criticism about the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, after telling an Edmonton radio station yesterday that the project is in the national interest and will go ahead despite B.C.’s efforts to block it.

B.C. announced earlier this week that it plans to ban increased shipments of diluted bitumen off its coast until it can determine that shippers are prepared and able to properly clean up a spill.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has called that an unconstitutional attempt to get around federal approval of the Kinder Morgan project, which would increase the capacity of a pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby.

Trudeau told CHED that it’s normal for provinces to have differences of opinion, and that’s why there is a federal government — to make sure the interests of all Canadians are looked after.

He said Canada needs to get Alberta’s oil safely to markets other than the United States, and the federal government did the research and has spent billions on spill response.